Child-parent centers to expand

February 28, 2012

Chicago’s child-parent centers are slated to expand and gain additional resources with a $15 million Investing in Innovation grant won last year by the University of Minnesota.

The money will fund five new child-parent centers in Chicago, four in Evanston/Skokie District 65, and a total of 14 new locations in Normal School District 5, Milwaukee Public Schools, St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools, and two other Minnesota districts.

The university has been tracking some of the centers’ graduates for more than 25 years through the Chicago Longitudinal Study, which has found that these students attained higher levels of education and earn more money than those who went to other early-childhood programs. They are also less likely to have criminal records or abuse drugs.

The special ingredient in child-parent centers is thought to be a combination of parent involvement, community and health care resources, small classes, and a curriculum that flows smoothly from preschool through 3rd grade.

Three decades after the study began, educators are increasingly focusing their attention on the importance of smooth transitions from preschool to the primary grades.

However, none of Chicago’s 10 Child-Parent Centers are currently implementing the whole “evidence-based” child-parent center model that has been studied, says researcher Arthur Reynolds, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development.

That model requires small classes (no larger than 17 students in preschool and 25 in K-3rd grade, even with assistants); a head teacher, who serves as the instructional leader for preschool and kindergarten; a parent resource teacher and parent room; a school-community liaison; health services on-site or provided through a community contractor; and “program facilitators,” who work with primary-grades teachers to improve instruction.

Currently, though, the only extra staff at the district’s child-parent centers are a head teacher, parent resource teacher, clerk, and teachers’ assistants, according to district spokeswoman Kathryn Hickey. She says that funding cuts have happened because of low enrollment in many of the programs.

A New America Foundation article details the centers’ struggles, noting that their decline coincided with the gentrification of the very inner-city neighborhoods they were designed to serve, increased Title I spending on literacy programs (which left less Title I money for the centers), the end of social promotion in CPS, and the rise of expensive, ineffective remediation programs.

Hickey says the new child-parent center sites have not been identified yet. “We are looking at former CPC sites with multiple classrooms… other program sites with multiple classrooms, and/or ‘center-like’ facilities,” she wrote in an email.

A diverse group of parents, students, teachers and educational activists came together on Wednesday evening to plan what they are calling "education assemblies." Details are still being worked out, but the idea is to hold two assemblies a year and use a democratic process to develop a progressive education platform. Smaller groups would push the agenda between assemblies. They hope to have the first assembly in late spring.